‘Calm down before you do yourself some harm!’
There was nothing but rage in Samuel’s heart. He had trusted the old magician-had loved him as a father figure-but now he wanted to force him into battle and defeat him as he had secretly desired since his early days in the School of Magic. He was not interested in the Paatin Queen. He could come back for her at any time and defeat her at his leisure, such was her insignificance.
He could feel a demonic smile creeping across his face as he called for more power.
‘No, Samuel!’ old Anthem cried, and sent forth a shower of spells of his own.
Vines and creepers exploded from the floor and snapped around Samuel’s legs and arms, encircling his body until he was a mummy of tightening growth, but the plants turned black and turned to cinders with the barest of efforts, and Samuel stepped free. A torrent of fire then billowed out from the old man and Samuel did not even bother to protect himself. He revelled in displaying his power to the old fool. As the flames surrounded him and ate at his body, his magic succoured him, replenishing the meat beneath his blackened flesh as quickly as it was burned away. His bones glowed red beneath his skin like logs at the core of a wildfire, but magic saturated and supported him. He could not be harmed.
It was a joyous feeling to have so much power, and Samuel raised a smoking finger at the astonished Grand Master as the fire spell ended. Anthem was aghast and ran to the balcony. He leapt out the window and vanished into the night air. It was obvious he hoped to draw Samuel outside, for Anthem could not act freely in the confines of the palace. Samuel was happy to comply, for it would be a much sweeter victory if his teacher could fight with all his potential.
He stepped to the balcony, with the wispy veiled curtains evaporating in fire as he brushed through them, and watched the old man hopping madly down towards the city. He took a moment to look back at Alahativa, who remained staring at him with pure horror. He knew he should have killed her and taken the rings from her there and then, but he had time to do as he pleased. She could not escape him. He could find her any time he wished and somehow the more terrified she was,the better. He would leave her there, guarding the Emperor and return for them both as it suited him.
He turned back to the scene below. It was now the time that he had been awaiting all his life. He was become the most powerful magician in the world. All he had to do was kill the strongest of the Lions of Cintar, and it would seal the fact. And that would not be difficult at all.
He vaulted from the balcony, exploding it to tumbling rubble as he leapt, and alighted atop a great,blue-tiled,domed roof across the courtyard; perching himself upon it like a predator ready to pounce. Anthem had hiddenhimself. He wasburied away beneath a distant home and was feverishly covering himself in every spell he could muster. Samuel could feel the man’s thudding heart calling to him, shouting aloud from his hiding spot. Across the city, tiny fireflies of people were looking up at him and wailing, abandoning their celebrations and fleeing through the streets in panic. He revelled in their fear as if it was a declaration of his triumph. Above them all, the Star of Osirah blazed away, now almost directly above them and taking up the sky like a new moon. The city lay bathed in its ominous silver twilight.
‘Fear me!’ the being called Samuel commanded and his voice boomed across the city and shook the foundations-but the people did not understand; for it was the Ancient Lick spilling from his tongue.
He had given the old Lion time enough to prepare, so Samuel took his turn to act. Picking up a distant temple, he heaved it high into the air with magic, spilling bricks and flailing Paatin towards the ground. He gestured with his hand and the building flung itself onto Anthem’s hiding spot with a distant clatter and echoing rumble. Both buildings vanished behind a plume of billowing dust, but Anthem was unharmed. He had darted away to another spot just in time.
It was quite an amusing distraction and Samuel continued the game, decimating parts of the city. It seemed there were still some guards and wizards left in the palace, for some spells came bouncing off him, and missile fire came whizzing past him. One arrow struck him directly, burying itself through the middle of his chest, but the thing dropped out of him without effect, as if slipping from clay. While he had any magic remaining,he was beyond harm, and he had barely even begun his work. With a simple glance, he turned the soldiers in the square and shooting from the towers around him to flames, one after another, setting them to dance as if in frantic praise of him. Some he flung wailing from the heights and others he simply crushed with magic, for the easewithwhich he could destroy them and the way he decided each of their fates was thrilling. For simple amusement, he left one Paatin crossbow-man standing,while two on either side of him fell to cinders. Then, as the man sagged to his knees and thanked Alahativa for sparing him, Samuel dropped a massive roofing-stone on top of him. The joy of destruction was simply delightful.
The entertainment would have continued longer if Samuel had not felt a rumbling in the pattern, for old Anthem-the wily fox-was summoning something mighty, just as Samuel had hoped. It came screaming through the ether and Samuel waited with excitement for the thing to arrive. He had hoped Anthem would do something like this and now he felt he would have a challenge worthy of his attention.
In the midst of the city, something appeared in a shimmer of air. There was no fiery explosion to herald it, but the buildings all around the summoned thing cracked and fell regardless, as if,out offear, they had given up holding themselves together. It stood five storeys tall and howled in fury at being called into existence, but Anthem’s will was tethered to it and the creature had no choice but to follow the directions of the old man, safe in his hiding place across the city. The beast was an enormous biped, cloaked in fur and with the head of a goat. It screamed again, baring teeth like swords, and the city trembled. People screamed and took flight. It looked directly to Samuel and began striding over the buildings, crushing all who strayed beneath its cloven feet.
Samuel leapt, springing across the city, and came down upon the beast like a hurled missile. He laughed with glee as he kicked out at the thing, for he yearned to see what such a magic-filled attack would do to the creature. With a lurching jar, he stopped short of his target, for it had snapped him out of the air with its massive clawed hand and thrown him tumbling away. He crashed through buildings one after another and came to a rest buried beneath a shattered wall of stone. Three rocks came spilling onto his head, but each one felt like nothing more than a tap from a finger. Dusting himself off, he stepped from the pile and launched himself aloftonce again.
The beast was striding directly towards him, ignorant of the buildings it toppled with each step. Three quick spells shot out from Samuel in succession and the beast roared with each, black blood squirting from its face. Samuelimmediately felt disappointed at the sight of this, for it signalled that the thing was merely an oversized animal of flesh and blood, and he would dispose of it quickly.
After landing once more, he sprang back up in the direction of the creature. He came down on a rooftop beside it and began running at once. It turned to reach out for him, but it was inordinately slow and,with his heightened speed,he was easily away, leaping between rooftops, peppering the beast with spells that took chunks out of its fur and flesh. The thing slashed out wildly and demolished walls each time, but it was incapable of harming him.
Feelingthatthe fight was entirely one-sided, and growing tired of such an affair, Samuel decided to put the poor thing out of its suffering. He jumped to the creature’s feet and readied a blast to kill it. The snarling beast bent over to look at him and Samuel sent a ribbon of power up and through its neck. Its enormous head came crashing down beside him and its body tumbled, flailing, into a three-storey cluster of dwellings.
It was quite a pathetic attempt at summoning and Samuel was just beginning to think the old Lion had lost his touch, when a bulge in the ether beganto movetowardshim. He staggered for a moment, realising that something much bigger was al
ready breaching the pattern, and he smiled.
‘I have no choice but to destroy you, Samuel!’ came the bellowing voice of the old man, carrying across the city,and then he was there,standing astridea four-towered temple a hundredpacesaway. ‘You have become an abomination, Samuel-can’t you see? If I don’t stop you now, you will only grow stronger. You will lose yourself and do terrible things beyond your own control. Some evil compulsion is already consuming you.’
‘This power is my own, to do with as I wish,’ Samuel spoke back in reply, setting the rubble to tremble as his voice carried far and wide.
‘Even more the reason for dark powers to covet you, boy. Can you not hear their voices whispering in your mind? They come to all who have great strength, for evil things are always looking for a way into this world and a gate must have two sides if it is to exist. You must put them from your mind without hesitation. To give yourself to them is to lose yourself altogether.’
‘I hear nothing but you, Grand Master, trying to delay me while you finish crafting your spell. So be it. Let whatever you have brought come and I will destroy it.’
‘This is your last chance, Samuel. I can still stop this if you will only come to your senses. The beast I have found is beyond anything this world has seen. I stumbled across it long ago as I scoured the other realms, but I have never dared bring such a creatureinto this world before.’ Samuel stood silent in response. ‘Very well, boy. Forgive me then, for it has arrived.’
It was then that the summoning took form, just as the old man had said, called into being with incredible skill and a vast amount of power. It was evident, now, why the first beast had been so lacklustre. It had only been a distraction, sent to delay him. Anthem had figured that Samuel would waste time playing with the thing, and he had guessed well. He had used the time to seek out precisely the creature he desired, and it came billowing forth from the ether in an explosion of fury.
The old man scampered away,and Samuel also had to scramble aside, for the buildings vanished into dust and fire and something enormous came rushing from the remains. It was truly a demon in every sense of the word, engulfed in flames and howling for flesh. It was about as tall as the previous beast, but its exterior was covered in bone and drippingwithgore and jelly-like ooze. Its head was a dome of bone, lacking eyes, but with a puckered,sniffing nose. Its mouth wasa series ofjaws within jaws, all gnashing and biting and expelling fire. Spikes and tendrils erupted from its skin in place of hairs,and the talons on its claws and feet were each curved scythes the length of a man. It was hideously fast and Samuel blasted the thing with spells as he back-stepped,but his magic hadlittle effect.
‘You overstepped your bounds, boy,’ Anthem called from behind it. ‘All men become fools when they believe they have power over others. You have proved to be no exception, Samuel. I had hoped you would become a great magician, but you have fallen into corruption. I hope your son will fare better beneath my care.’
Samuel was incensed with rage and stood his place to show the old man all he was worth. As the beast bore down on him, he sent a wrath of power to disembowel it. The spell sang true from his fingertips and struck the creature fair in the middle, but to no effect. With a swipe,it scooped him from the ground and brought him to its terrible mouth. Its fiery breath washed over him like molten pain, but such physical feelings were no longer relevant to him. It put him towards its maw, but he had no wish to enter such a hellish place and he cast his hands out, holding the beast’s outer jaws open with his magic-imbued strength.
Layers of inner teeth hammered and gnashed with excitement just before him, and Samuel could see more layering in its throat, all the way down its gullet, but it could not push him in. He held firm, but also he could not escape. Worst of all, it seemed to be sucking at his power through its very touch. An air of utter evil smothered him and filled his mind with darkness, making it hard to think. With its brimstone breath devouring his flesh and its claw holding him firm, Samuel could not escape.
He threw up a shield to keep the fiery breath from his skin, and the foul air ran away,as if from an umbrella, but that was only a small respite. His magic was vast, but as quickly as he restored his protection, it was eaten away. More of his magic went into keeping himself from its stomach,and the two of them waged a titanic struggle-he, a tiny black-cloaked doll in its grip and it, an unstoppable beast from some unknown hell.
‘I will not…be…defeated!’ Samuel declared, but still he could not escape. He pulverised the thing with spells that would shatter solid stone, but it took time to make a spell of greater worth and,busy as he was keeping his body replenished andawayfrom itsgapingmouth, that was time he could not afford. ‘Damn you, Anthem!’ he swore and his anger boiled from him. His muscles began to shake, but the beast did not weaken.
All things have limits and only then did Samuel realise his foolishness. Again and again,he pelted the beast with his magic, looking for some weakness, but it seemed to have none. Anger turned to desperation as he felt his magic waning.
‘This is the end,’ Anthem’s voice carried across to him.
Throughout the city, people were still fleeing and,in homes and houses all around, many still hid. Others lay dying on the streets or under piles of shattered stone. As Samuel felt his own strength failing, he could feel theirs calling to him. He needed more power and they each had it, blazing irresistibly within them. Perhaps he could have withstood the temptation, and perhaps he could have found another way to escape, but the demon’s vile air cluttered his mind and whispering voices began clamouring for his attention.
He yelled aloud-a mixture of exertion and desperation-and all throughout the city those fireflies of life came flying towards him, their abandoned husks dropping behind them as they fled. In every building and on every street within that quarter of the city the people fell dead-whether running or hiding or holding onto each other in fear, it made no difference. Their energy was plucked from their bodies at Samuel’s summonsand they came flooding towards him. He could hear Grand Master Anthem shouting out in protest, but even the roar of the creature’s breath was a whisper compared to the din of all these souls stampeding into him. He lost all thought of the beast that held him and his mind turned to gaining more and more such souls. The thought occurred to him that what he was doing was wrong, but he ignored it, for nothing mattered more than freeing himself and devouring these morsels. He knew that each bite was the life of an innocent human, but he could not think of that now; the unquenchable hunger for more overtook him, unchallenged.
‘No!’ came a sudden furious shout and Samuel was roused from his task. The demon was no longer holding him, for it lay beneath him with its head split apart as if its mouth had been unhinged and kicked open, yet he still hovered in place, hanging in mid-air,held aloft by burning tendrils of magic.
‘No, Samuel!’ came the voice again and he realised it was the stubborn old magician who had disturbed him. ‘What are you doing, Samuel? For the love of everything, look at what you are doing! You are killing everyone! This is vile work! I cannot allow it or we all will be lost!’
Samuel opened his mouth, but he could no longer form words. Something spilled from his lips, hot and infused with power, and he had no interest in communication. The light around the jabbering old magician had enticed him and his attention focussed on that. He willed himself to float towards the old man and began pulling at his energy, as ifhe wereunravelling a thread from a woollen jumper. In turn, a whip of magic came hurtling out from the old magician and wrapped itself around Samuel.
‘Two can play at this game!’ the defiant Grand Master roared and he began tugging at Samuel’s power in return.
Samuel was enraged and howled in anger as Anthem sucked at his strength. The two of them tugged back and forth with their power, playing a tug of war with each other’s very spirit. The old man was incapable of doing too much harm, but every drop of power that was stolen stung Samuel and left him mindless with rage. He drew closer and closer to the
old man, pulling faster and faster as he closed the distance, until Anthem had barely a sliver of life remaining.
‘I’m sorry, boy, but I must do this for the sake of everyone,’ and,with that,Anthem gave a leap, grabbed Samuel by the ankles and hung on tight. He screamed in pain, for his hands blistered upon touching Samuel, but he would not let go. He pulled Samuel down to be at his own level and then he threw his arms around him and hugged onto him with all his might. ‘I guess we shall both get to see what hell really looks like,’ he said and the beast that was Samuel now saw the old man’s intent.
A string of magic still tethered Anthem to the demon he had summoned and,by releasing the spell, the fallen creature would return to its own realm and take the old man with it. He must have planned for that from the start-a last resort for just such a situation.
Deep within himself, Samuel put these facts together, but somehow he could not act on them, for voices were still chanting in his head and he was still overcomebythe primitive drive to consume. It should have been simple to fight the old man off, but Samuel’s body would not respond. Instead, he kept on sucking at the magician who held him, gobbling up the final shreds of his life force.
In the final moments of his life, Anthem released his spell, and the demon vanished into a shimmering haze. The tendril of magic that ran between them was sucked in after it, and the slack of the spell began to disappear as it was pulled in after the beast.
Just then, something whistled through the air and a shaft of glass appeared through the middle of Samuel and Anthem both. To Samuel, it was inconsequential and he hardly would have noticed such a thing, but the old man spat blood and gasped with a terrible realisation. Worse than the pain was the fact that, in his moment of surprise, he had let slip his grip on Samuel and had staggered back, sliding from the end of the spear that had pinned them together. It was a single,tragic moment, but it was too late for Anthem to grab hold once more. Instead, he stood defeated, knowing this moment was his last.
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